‘Powell-Modi meet is US’ internal corrective’

The BJP on Thursday described the meeting between its PM candidate Narendra Modi and US Ambassador Nancy Powell as the ‘internal corrective of the US administration’ and claimed the boycott of Gujarat CM was a failure of India’s foreign policy.

According to the BJP leader Arun Jaitley, the decision by the US administration to resume contact with the Gujarat Chief Minister appears to be based on their suo moto assessment of the domestic situation in India.

“I regard it as an internal corrective of the US administration. It is not for a political party or a State government, to react to another country’s response of dealing or otherwise with elected representatives in India. It was for the External Affairs Ministry (MEA) to react to it. Did the MEA under the UPA fail in this regard? Unquestionably it did,” Jaitley wrote in his blog.

Claiming Modi was ‘unquestionably the frontrunner’ in the 2014 general elections, Jaitley hit out at UPA ministers saying their arrogance still remains.

“That arrogance is evident even in the reactions in the past few hours. The External Affairs Minister who should have protected the dignity of an elected representative in India appears distressed even as the US Ambassador met the Gujarat CM.” Jaitley added.

Jaitley maintained that all sides must realize that ‘restraint and statesmanship’ can enable them to overcome transient problems and “aberrations cannot be exaggerated” to disturb the balance in the relationship.